1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new, eight structural polymer of 2-oxygermylpropionic acid and to a pharmaceutical composition containing same. The present invention is also directed to a method of preventing the occurrence of symptoms of immune diseases or curing such diseases.
2. Description of the Prior Art
3-Oxygermylpropionic acid which undergoes polymerization in a complicated manner is useful for various applications. In particular, because of the specific pharmacological activities, 3-oxygermylpropionic acid compounds have now attracted attention of many researchers. Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 57-53800 discloses antiviral activities of such compounds.
Carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide, generally called Gel32, is known to have a twelve-membered ring structure (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 98 (25), 8287 (1976)).
The known organogermanium compounds, however, have a problem that it is difficult to synthesize the compounds with good reproducibility. Thus, the pharmacological activities of the known compounds vary from lot to lot. Additionally, the known compounds encounter a problem because the activities are lowered during dispensing.
The present inventors have proposed effective stabilizing agents for 3-oxygermylpropionic acid (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 61-65819) and also found that sugar serves to enhance the pharmacological activities of the acid (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 60-190714).